Any experience with the Keio Plaza Hotel in Tokyo? They seem to have very nice restaurants in the hotel.

I did a status match a few weeks ago. Screenshot of my LT Titanium and emailed that as proof.. Matched to titanium in a day or two. Staying at Fullerton Singapore next week. Hoping for an upgrade rather than being Bonyoyed.

I would to stay at the Fullerton in Singapore! Let us know how things turn out for you

Does anyone know if you can use your hotel status benefits while booking via iPrefer? Specifically, I'm looking at booking Virgin Hotel in NYC, and Virgin Atlantic Gold status should = free breakfast. But anyone with any experience of accessing hotel status benefits with an iPrefer booking?

So are bookings made via Preferred Hotels/iPrefer direct bookings, as far as the Hotel is concerned? And so you would get any benefits that you have via status with the hotel?

Matches to titanium from Globalist
 

Just adding a data point, it was an easy match from Hyatt globalist to Titanium. Submitted an email and received a response one business day later

Now that it is easy to book Choice Preferred hotels online (thanks to frequentmiler for the directions) I matched to iprefer from Hyatt globalist. They gave me iPrefer Titanium. I'm booking some hotels in Switzerland using Choice points- not sure what to expect for on-property perks if any. The points default to smallest room.

Hi, just had my first three Preferred stays. Hotel Middle Eight, Virgin NY and Hotel Sans Souci. Middle Eight and Sans Souci supposedly 5 star, but in reality I felt no more than 4 star. No upgrades, discounted breakfast at Middle Eight and free at Sans Souci.

Is everyone's experience the same as mine regarding 4 star vs. 5 star? Are there "real" luxury hotels in the portfolio? I am trying new groups since I am Lifetime Bonvoy Titanium, but hesitating now because of the less than lux experiences... Would love your thoughts.

Enjoy complimentary Titanium status with Preferred Hotels & Resorts

Join I Prefer, the loyalty program for Preferred Hotels & Resorts and you’ll receive Titanium status! What’s more, when booking a Preferred Hotel & Resort property through HotelSavers, you can immediately enjoy your new Titanium status benefits like complimentary food & beverage offerings, early check in/late check out, room upgrades, and other exciting perks! Enroll here!

From Aeroplan- I have Preferred Hotels account but would not update to Titanium. HOWEVER- WHEN I JOINED AGAIN- it gave me titantium.
Maybe someone else can use. Using link it will put in a code.

I think it's a little bit of a mixed bag like it's always the case with these "umbrellas". Hotel stays in Stockholm and Boston where underwhelming but the Royal Park hotel in Tokyo was excellent and truly 5-star.
My biggest pet peeve with the program is that none of the hotels seem to be aware of the program rules. I'm titanium but I've never had an upgrade, only once a welcome amenity, and I had to ask for the complimentary F&B offering each and every time.

Fullerton Ocean Park HK
 

Stayed here as Titanium for few days

Hotel was very full

Check In: suggest to do precheckin where you can see if you can get upgrade during precheckin (i did not have any upgrade). Otherwise the queue to check in can take 1 hour at least

Room: view is fantastic and beautiful with the sea view

Gym: very adequate, not big but not small either

Breakfast: very good variety of food, really recommend. Lunch and dinner also great. Beware that you need to book a slot for breakfast because of crowd

Titanium benefit:
1. no room upgrade given
2. Late checkout only given 1 hour (normal checkout is 11 am .... so late checkout 1 hour is like...normal checkout???)
3. 10% f&b discount
4. welcome amenity was fantastic, the most complete welcome amenity i have ever received
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...e14ae66eaf.jpg


Room view
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...15a33f8b5c.jpg

Recent experiences
 

Any recent experiences with specific hotels that actually acknowledge iPrefer status? Looking at booking something in Japan and other places.

How was your experience at the Royal overall in terms of benefits and facilities? Did you end up getting any comped breakfast after you asked for the F&B offering or what did you end up receiving for it?

I'm planning to stay at the same property next weekend. Do they provide free breakfast for Titanium members? Do they have a lounge?

It seems that it's very difficult to find points availability on the Preferred Hotels website, only a handful of hotels out of the hundred of properties show up as available. Seems that even booking through choice hotels have more points availability than I Prefer, which doesn't seem to make a lot of sense. Has anyone had experiences with booking Preferred Hotels with I Prefer points not choice hotels points?

I've been playing around with the site a lot to try to figure it out, and feel like I should be close, but can't quite get there. Regardless, there are many properties that offer points + cash rates. Even these rates offer decent value for points, but it's only defraying about 25% of the cash cost of the stay, so you're still going to be paying a lot of cash. There's definitely something to do with the Corporate Codes IPPOINTS and IPRNP: IPPOINTS is the code that the site uses to search for 100% points availability, and IPRNP is the code it uses to search for "Rewards Night Plus", which is their name for points + cash. I was playing around with substituting this into links to hotels that weren't showing up with just points availability and thought I was able to get one to show points availability, but I can't seem to replicate it now. Feels like their site is janky but maybe people end up figuring out how to book some more properties over time?

Are there any sample hotels/dates that allow a straight points redemption?

Why do only points+cash show up? Do you need sufficient points balance for a straight points booking or is there just no availability, seemingly ever?

There are hotels that allow a straight points redemption, but they are scarce. I have found a total of 6 hotels that have points availability.

What an absurd program.
Which hotels?

Could someone elaborate what the "Complimentary Food & Beverage Offering" is for Titanium level members?

Have some 30k points left to redeem and can't find anything decent. Even for points + cash, the outlay is still pretty high.

Sorry, I missed your question. I very much liked the stay, the location of hotel is really good, the rooms are very spacious (to local standards).
I got a bottle of wine as F&B benefit.

It's up to the hotel.
I have gotten some snacks, a bottle of wine and once we got a complete 3-course meal for 2 persons. (excluding drinks)

Stay at The Marker SFO
 

Had a quick 2 night stay at The Marker in San Francisco as a Titanium.

Booked a cash rate and was upgraded to a 1 bedroom suite. Was also given 2 breakfast vouchers for their restaraunt.

Check in gifts were a bottle of wine, a medium bag of artisan local popcorn, a small package of artisan local chocolates and 2 San Pellegrinos.

If I got this at any other chain I would be satisfied with my status recognition.

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You could use it for 2 nights in Singapore's Wyndham. That is quite decent one.

Recently stayed as iPrefer Titanium at Hotel Diplomat in Stockholm. No welcome amenity nor FnB voucher. Asked for the voucher and the staff most looked puzzled and never heard of it. Great stay anyhow.

Is there an easy/cheap way to extend point expiration? I have some expiring at the end of the month but I don't have an upcoming booking to extend

In Tokyo I can get the New Otani Main or the Royal Iconic Shidome for almost the same price. I am hoping to be matched to Titanium from Hilton Diamond or Marriot LT Platinum.
We usually stay at Conrad which is in the Shidome area so are familiar with the area. have not stayed in the area of the New Otani since I stayed there 45 years ago!

Has anyone stayed at both and can recommend one or the other. Does one have better Titanium recognition?

Key access offers
 

I’ve found the Key Access offers to be solid. You access them at the bottom of the “redeem” page by clicking the “unlock your secret rates” button.

They are cash + a small amount of points (like 500 per night). I have found that the pricing is sometimes better than they indicate on the site when you look at the available properties so it’s worth trying them to see what the final pricing looks like.

One note is that they don’t earn points. Not a big deal though, I was able to book some nice properties at a substantial discount.

is the Key Access redemption working at the moment? It’s been working fine for the past few months, but I can’t get to the calendar page yesterday/ today. When I clicked the ‘view rate’ button, it doesn’t do anything. Tried it on my partners phone and still can’t get through. Thanks

Seems to be working for me! Just tried it. The site is a little slow so sometimes I find things take a while to display.

For some reasons, pop ups are blocked on my phone. It’s working for me now. Thanks.

Late reply, here, but I'm having the same sort of dilemma. On paper, this is a great program to transfer Citi points to with the 4:1 ratio. But when you look at the physical number of properties available to book with points, it does sort of suck. On a good day, it's a phenomenal value. I have a stay booked at a Cancun all inclusive this year that will be a great use of points. But I struggle to justify keeping points in this program when there are so so few properties to find.

Why would you "keep" points in this program. If you find a hotel that is a good deal, transfer from Citi and burn them ALL. You should never have more than a few hundred points in your account unless you have paid stays.

Status Match
 

Is status match still live?

If so, can someone provide a link?

TIA

Yes, you just need to send an email to [email protected] with your request. I was matched to their Gold tier using Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite and Hilton Honors Gold.

Thank you for the link. Will give it a try, since I have a Japan trip coming up.

Is the matched IPreferred staus good for 1 year?

I have had it for about 18 months and only spent two nights in iprefer properties.

Yes, also with a once per lifetime restriction.

I am also planning to go to Switzerland. Which hotels did you end up booking and how are the benefits?